The plastic optical fiber (POF) industry is experiencing significant year-over-year growth due to its numerous benefits as compared to more conventional glass-core optical fiber technology or traditional copper wire for transmitting signals and data from point to point. As compared to glass-core optical fiber, POF is not prone to cracking and is therefore more physically robust and able to be installed in areas where tight bends in the fiber are required and is significantly easier to install due to the simplicity that plastic optical fiber can be readily terminated and connected to optical transmitters and receivers, which leads to reduced installations costs. As compared to conventional copper wire, POF transmits signals faster, is immune to electro-magnetic interference (EMI), has input/output electrical isolation, cannot short-out or incur damage due to an electrical surge, is immune to lightning strikes, will not produce sparks causing explosion and fire, has no ground loop interference, and very importantly, POF has a smaller installed footprint and weight due to having a smaller diameter cable and weighing less than copper wire.
The widespread implementation of POF systems requires the development of highly efficient light sources that satisfy the unique requirements of POF. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), the most typical core material used for POF, has minimums in the attenuation spectrum at 510 nm (green), 570 nm (green-yellow), and 650 nm (red), with an attenuation of approximately 70 dB/km at 510 nm and 570 nm and an attenuation of approximately 150 dB/km at 650 nm. Light with a wavelength in the green and green-yellow color spectrum will experience the least attenuation and will travel the furthest in the POF and therefore green and green-yellow wavelengths are preferred for POF.
Resonant-Cavity Light-Emitting Diodes (RC-LEDs), which have a structure that is similar to vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), provide a number of advantages over conventional Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs), such as improved spectral purity, larger bandwidth, enhanced extraction efficiency, and improved light directionality, each of which provides increased light-coupling into the optical fibers. The vertical structure of the RC-LED also leads to lower-cost fabrication, emission normal to the wafer surface (and thereby the possibility of 2D-array operation), improved temperature stability, and high reliability. In addition, for RC-LEDs with cavity lengths on the order of an optical wavelength, the isotropic spontaneous emission is directed into optical modes that can readily escape from the RC-LED into air, instead of being “trapped” inside the LED by Snell's window, control the far-field emission from the RC-LED, optimize coupling of light to the plastic optical fiber, and most importantly increase the modulation rate (i.e., the data rate) of the RC-LED.
While high-brightness InGaN/GaN LEDs with green phosphor are commercially available, there are considerable challenges in trying to fabricate high efficiency ultra-fast green or green-yellow LEDs, and hence, commercially available emitters for POF applications are generally bright-red RC-LEDs at 650 nm. The difficulty in forming green LEDs in a manner that is similar to red RC-LEDs is due to issues with the epitaxy and the material properties of the InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) structure, which reduce the resonant cavity effects on the stimulated and/or spontaneous emission.
Publication titled “Dynamic instabilities in master oscillator power amplifier semiconductor lasers,” by A. Egan, C. Z. Ning, J. V. Moloney, R. A. Indik, M. W. Wright, D. J. Bessert, J. G. McInerney, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 34, Issue 1 (1998) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Amber green emitters targeting high temperature applications,” compiled by B. Corbett, Information Societies Technology (IST), AGETHA IST-1999-10292, Final Report (1999) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Lattice-matched HfN buffer layers for epitaxy of GaN on Si,” by R. Armitage, Q. Yang, H. Feick, J. Gebauer, E. R. Weber, S. Shinkai, K. Sasaki, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 81, No. 8 (2002) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Organometallic vapor phase epitaxial growth of GaN on ZrN/AlN/Si substrates,” by M. H. Oliver, J. L. Schroeder, D. A. Ewoldt, I. H. Wildeson, V. Rawat, R. Colby, P. R. Cantwell, E. A. Stach, and T. D. Sands, Applied Physics Letters 93, 023109 (2008) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Surface-plasmon-enhanced light-emitting diodes,” by M.-K. Kwon, J.-Y. Kim, B.-H. Kim, II-K. Park, C.-Y. Cho, C. C. Byeon, S.-J. Park, Advanced Materials, 20, 1253-1257 (2008) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Enhanced modulation bandwidth of nanocavity light emitting devices,” by E. K. Lau, A. Lakhani, R. S. Tucker, and M. C. Wu, Opt. Express 17, 7790-7799 (2009) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Epitaxial growth of GaN on single-crystal Mo substrates using HfN buffer layers,” by K. Okamoto, S. Inoue, T. Nakano, J. Ohta, H. Fujioka, Journal of Crystal Growth 311 (5), 1311-1315, (2009) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Compact metallo-dielectric optical antenna for ultra directional and enhanced radiative emission,” by A. Devilez, B. Stout, and N. Bonod, ACS Nano 4, 3390-3396 (2010) is incorporated herein by reference.
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Publication titled “Metallodielectric hybrid antennas for ultrastrong enhancement of spontaneous emission,” by X.-W. Chen, M. Agio, and V. Sandoghdar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 233001 (2012) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Reflecting upon the losses in plasmonics and metamaterials,” by J. B. Khurgin, and A. Boltasseva, MRS Bulletin, Vol. 37, Issue 8, 768 (2012) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Alternative plasmonic materials: beyond gold and silver,” by G. V. Naik, V. M. Shalaev, and A. Boltasseva, Advanced Materials, 25, 3264-3294 (2013) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Loss compensation in metal-dielectric layered metamaterials,” by R. S. Savelev, I. V. Shadrivov, P. A. Belov, N. N. Rosanov, S. V. Fedorov, A. A. Sukhorukov, and Y. S. Kivshar, Physical Review B 87, 115139 (2013) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Controlling spontaneous emission with plasmonic optical patch antennas,” by C. Belacel, B. Habert, F. Bigourdan, F. Marquier, J.-P. Hugonin, S. Michaelis de Vasconcellos, X. Lafosse, L. Coolen, C. Schwob, C. Javaux, B. Dubertret, J.-J. Greffet, P. Senellart, and A. Maitre, Nano Lett. 13 (4), 1516-1521 (2013) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Plasmonic lifetimes and propagation lengths in metallodielectric superlattices,” by G. Isić, R. Gajić, and S. Vuković, Phys. Rev. B 89, 165427 (2014) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Enhancing spontaneous emission rates of molecules using nanopatterned multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials,” by D. Lu, J. J. Kan, E. E. Fullerton, and Z. Liu, Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 9, 48 (2014) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Optical properties of plasmonic light-emitting diodes based on flip-chip III-nitride core-shell nanowires”, by M. Nami, and D. F. Feezell, Optics Express, Optical Society of America, Vol. 22, No. 24, 29445 (2014) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Design of highly efficient mettallo-dielectric patch antennas for single-photon emission,” by F. Bigourdan, F. Marquier, J.-P. Hugonin, and J.-J. Greffet, Optics Express, Optical Society of America, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2337-2347 (2014) is incorporated herein by reference.
Publication titled “Active hyperbolic metamaterials: enhanced spontaneous emission and light extraction,” by T. Galfsky, H. N. S. Krishnamoorthy, W. Newman, E. E. Narimanov, Z. Jacob, and V. M. Menon, Optica Vol. 2, No. 1, 62 (2015) is incorporated herein by reference.
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U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0275937 to Hidekazu Aoyagi et al. (hereinafter, “Aoyagi et al.”), titled “METHOD OF FABRICATING LIGHT-EMITTING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE” published Dec. 7, 2006, and is incorporated herein by reference.
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U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0048939 to Jianping Zhang et al. (hereinafter, “Zhang et al.”), titled “LIGHT EMITTING DEVICE HAVING GROUP III-NITRIDE CURRENT SPREADING LAYER DOPED WITH TRANSITION METAL OR COMPRISING TRANSITION METAL NITRIDE” published Feb. 28, 2013, and is incorporated herein by reference.
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There is a need in the POF industry for a high-speed and efficient green-light (e.g., light having a wavelength of approximately 510 nanometers) LED based on the GaN material system.